“Blumenthal gushed Friday over
Clinton’s political stock, ahead of the former secretary of state’s
announcement Sunday that she is running for president in 2016.

“’She literally can make history,’
Blumenthal told Hearst Connecticut Media. ‘How many people have been a
presidential spouse, a senator in her own right and a distinguished secretary
of state with a record of representing a major state (New York) and our nation
abroad? By any measure, she is very seriously and significantly qualified,
especially as compared to some of the other contenders.’

The “other contenders” would be a bevy of Republicans, none
of whom were married to Bill Clinton. Neither was Massachusetts Congresswoman
Elisabeth Warren, the heartthrob of Democratic progressives, married to the
philandering former president. CNN has listed 11 alternatives to Mrs. Clinton; however, at the moment, Ms.
Warren’s star appears to be shining more brightly than other Democratic
presidential possibilities, despite her avowals that she is not a contender.

“I’m not running for president… I don’t get who writes these
headlines or what they’re about. I think there’s just kind of a pundit world
out there," Ms. Warren has said.

This disclaimer and others like it are not Shermanesque
enough for some citizens of Punditworld. Considered for the presidential
election of 1888, William Tecumseh Sherman declined the draft in unambiguous
terms: “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected." At
times, Ms. Warren appears to be playing a cat and mouse game with her
progressive constituency, battering Wall Street and coyly escaping the nomination noose thrown out to her by ardent progressive populists.

Among Democratic progressives, Ms. Warren continues to be a
default candidate because she, like Mrs. Clinton,is a woman. Democrats have
been accusing Republicans of making “war on women” ever since Barack Obama
threw his hat in the presidential ring several years ago, and the claim, though
spurious, has been good for business. Then too, Ms. Warren’s public persona,
but for unnecessary assertions that she was an American Indian, appears to be
more authentic than Mrs. Clinton’s, who has shed a few snake skins in her day.

The skeletons in Ms. Warren’s closet are less spooky than
those rattling in Mrs. Clinton’s closet. The overthrow of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi by Secretary
of State Clinton and the Obama administration continues to rattle some
progressives who argue – along with Republican commentator Pat Buchanan,
Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul, the libertarian wing of the
Republican Party and the anti-war wing of the progressive movement – that interventionism
leads to unwanted, unintended consequences.

The sacking of the American consulate in Libya is worrisome
because Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama may have been running an arms transfer
operation in Benghazi, hence the need for plausible deniability: The sacking of
the consulate in Benghazi, don’t you know, was accomplished by protesters
enraged by an amateur video assaulting the sterling reputation of the prophet
Mohammed, peace be upon him. As time rolls on and the truth is hoisted on stage,
even the most ardent Clintonite may come to understand that Mr. Obama's Libya is the eerie equivalent
of Mr. Bush's Iraq War, Mrs. Clinton playing
the part of hateful advisors such as Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State for President George Bush and Bush Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Mrs. Clinton plans to “go small” during her campaign, which
is to say she will appear in more intimate venues, far from the madding crowd of
seasoned journalists. “I think the more people can see Hillary the person, I’m
tempted to say the real Hillary Clinton, the more that they will develop very
deep and genuine affection and admiration for her,” Blumenthal has said. President
Obama has perfected the self-edited campaign, and Mrs. Clinton intends to
follow the same path to the White House. “Going small” is simply a way of
managing the inconveniences of going big, among them critical exposure from national
media critics and others who, for very
good reasons, are uncomfortable with candidate managed press exposure.

Mr. Blumenthal, author of thousands of media releases during
his long political tenure as Connecticut’s Attorney General, could easily give
lessons to Mrs. Clinton in this regard; he is used to dancing around potential bonfires
without being singed. Having served as a suit-happy AG in Connecticut for more
than two decades, his march to the US Congress was not impeded by his false
claims – in intimate settings -- that he had served in Vietnam, when in fact he served state-side in Washington DC after having exhausted his deferments.
In a recent poll, Mr. Blumenthal’s popularity appears undented; Republicans
will have a devil of a time putting up a candidate for US Senator who may
defeat the maestro of intimate settings.